Is there a link between motor performance variability and social-communicative impairment in children with ADHD-CT: a kinematic study using an upper limb fitts' aiming task

Objective: This study investigated the relationship between motor performance and social-communicative impairment in children with ADHD-combined type (ADHD-CT). Method: An upper limb Fitts? aiming task was used as a measure of motor performance and the Social Responsiveness Scale as a measure of social-communicative/autistic impairment in the following groups: ADHD-CT (n = 11) and typically developing (TD) controls (n = 10). Results: Children with ADHD-CT displayed greater variability in their movements, reflected in increased error variance over repeated aiming trials compared with TD controls. Motor performance variability was associated with social-communicative deficits in the ADHD-CT but not in the TD group. Conclusion: Social-communicative impairments further complicate the clinical picture of ADHDCT; therefore, further research in this area is warranted to ascertain whether a particular pattern of motor disturbance in children with ADHD-CT may be clinically useful in identifying and assessing children with a more complex ADHD presentation